Wing for aircraft



June 3,1924. 1,496,732

F. H. PAGE" WING FOR AIRCRAFT Original F l y 14; 1921 Patented June 3, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT oar-lea.

rnnnEnIcK HANDLEY men, or tomJoN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR r HANDLEY rnon LIMITED, or LONDON, ENGLAND.

WING non. nrncnan'r.

Original application filed llay 14, 1921, Serial No. 469,402. Divided and this application filed August 14,

1922. Serial No. 581,823. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK HANDLEY PAGE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wings for Aircraft, of whichthe following is a specification.

In the specification of United States Patent No. 1,353,666, dated 21st September 1920, an invention has been described in which a slot or slots is or are formed in the leading portion of a wing extending in a direction transverse to the direction of flight, in order to admit of the passage of air from the under side to the upper side,

so as to prevent the burbling efl'ect which takes place with wings when inclined to the air at a large angle of incidence, and by prevention of that burbling permittlng the wings to be flown at still greater angles, and greatly improved lift coeflicient being thereby obtaine In a wing having slots of this kind, the wing has' been considered as composed of a main win wings set in ontof the leading edge thereof, and it h'as'been stated in the specification that the auxiliary win s are set at a less an le of incidence than t e main wings.

Thus i there is a diflerence in angle of between the chord of the main wing and the chord, of the auxiliary wing, and the main wing ha pens to, be at an angle of incidence of lus'10,- then the angle of incidence of t e auxiliary wing would be minus 20.

In the s ecification of my patent appli cation Serial 110,469,402 filed .May 14th 1921, of which this is a divisional application, I have described a wing structure for aircraft, comprised by a pluralit of wing sections each of wing form exten ing transversel to the longitudinal axis of the ma-' chine, one win section being located rearward ofthe ot or from the leading edgeto the trailing edge of said wing structure; a plurality of curved rails were provided extendin transversely of such wing sections, an one of said wing sections was to m be fixed to the rails, while the other wing sections were slidably connected to said curved rails, and means were provided for sliding said movable sections upon said curved. rails relatively to said fixed. wing and oneor more auxiliary p section and to each other to cause said wingsections to be brought into contact with each other or to be separated from each' other to form comparatively narrow throu h slots between saidwing sections, and at t 0' same t me when saidwing sections were so to the trailing edge, of the wing structure, a I

one such wing section being, mounted so as to be stationary relatively to the other. wing sections, all of which latter are mounted on pivots at their leadi edges, and means are provided 'coacting said pivotally mounted wing sections and said stationary wing section toenable said ivotally mounted wing sections to be rocked on their pivots to wholly' or partially opener close the slots between the sections, all said wing sections being so etween' mounted to constitute a wing structure and being contained within a contour line of wing form surrounding said wing structure,

with which'contour ne portions of the surfaces of each wing section contact, all said wing sections combining to make up the contour of a whole wing structure. Genorally the rearwardly located wing sectionis mounted to be stationary while all the" wing sections,"forward of such rearward section, are pivoted as aforesaid.

The narrow openings or slots formed. between the sectionswhen the win sections are separated from each other, y being turned about'their 'pivots,'extend in direc-- tions transversely of the line of flight, the

opening of each slot on'the under side of I each structure beinglocated in advance of the opening in the same slot upon the upper side of the wing structure. F

It will be observed that in this specification the term wing section is to be under stood as a wing of comparatively high aspect ratio having leading and trailin edges, whilethe term wing structure 1s to be understood as a structure comprising a plurality of such wing sections arranged in tandem from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the wing structure, and all the said wing sections, whether separated to produce the aforesaid slots or brought together to close the same, combine to make up the contour of a whole wing structure.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figs. 1 and and :2 show a wing structure composed wholly of a plurality of wing scctions which are pivotally mounted excepting the rearmost section, which is stationary or fixed, and means are shown for adjusting the pivotally mounted wing sections to open or close the slots between them: Fig. 1 shows the wing sections closed together, and Fig. 2 is asimilar view showing the wing sections separated.

The wing, structure shown in the draw ings is comprised by a plurality of wing sections 1, each of wing form, all extending transversely of the direction of flight, and

while the rearmost wing section is fixed, all the other wing sections are pivotally carried in the wing structure, said wing sections 1 being each mounted upon a pivot 5 at its leading edge, while as aforesaid the rear wing section 6 is fixed stationary in the framework of. the wing structure, so that,

by means hereafter described, when the wing sections 1 are moved about their pivots from the position shown at Fig. 1 to that shown at Fig. 2, narrow through slots extending in a direction transversely of the line of flight are provided by such movement of said wing sections 1 relatively to the stationary Wing sectionfi and to each other, the opening of each slot on the under side of said wing being located in advance of the opening of the same slot on the upperside of said wing structure. In either position, as at Fig. 1 or as at Fig. 2, all the said wing sections 1 are contained within a contour line of wing form surrounding said wing structure, with which contour line portions of the surfaces of each wing section contact, all said wing sections combining to make up the contour of a whole wing section.

Means are provided for adjusting the wing sections from the position shown in Fig.1 to that shown at Fig. 2, and to this end each pivoted wing-section 1 rearward of the leading wing section has pivoted to it at 7 a two-armed lever 8, the upper arm of which is pivotally connected to the trailing edge of the next forward wing section, while the lower arm of the lever 8 is pivoted to a connecting rod 9 which enters the stationary wing section 6, where it is screw- .threaded and engages a nut wheel 10, which nut wheel is capable of being revolved and prevented having motion in the direction of its axis. The nut Wheel 10 may be formed memes as a spocket wheel as shown, and can be operated by any suitable flexible connection within reach of the aviator.

By operating the nut wheel 10 the pivoted wing sections 1 can be adjusted about their pivots 5 relatively to the stationary rear wing section 6 and to each other, from the position at F ig. l where they are closed to gether to the position at Fig. 2 where they are separated to produce the slots before mentioned.

\Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A wing structure for aircraft. comprised hy a plurality of wing sections each of wing form. all extending transversely of the direction of flight, one located rearward of the other from the leading edge to the trailing edge of said' wing structure, means for mounting and connecting said wing sections to constitute said wing structure to retain one of said wing sections stationary in said wing structure. and pivots to carry the other movable wing sections so as to be adjustable about. said pivots relatively to said stationary wing section and to each other, and means coacting between said pivotally mounted wing sections and said stationary wing section to rock said pivotally mounted wing sections in a predetermined ratio increasing in amount toward the leading element of the wing, to formequal narrow through slots extending transversely of the direction of flight, or to close said wing sections together, all said wing sections whether closed together or separated defining the contour line of wing form surrounding said wing structure, with which contour line portions of the surfaces of each wing section contact, all combining to make up the contour of a whole wing structure.

2. In a wing for aircraft, comprising a plurality of elements each of wing form positioned to define the contour of the wing and to be separated by transverse through passages, one of said elements fixedly mounted, the others pivotally mounted, means operable from the fixed element to rock the pivoted elements in a ratio increasing with their distance respectively from the fixed element, whereby the contour of the wing may be varied and the size of thepassages controlled, said passages between the various elements being maintained equal at all times and the variation in the contour of the wing bearing a constant ratio to the variation in the size of the passages.

23 A wing structure for aircraft, comprised by a plurality of wing sections each of wing form, all extending transversely of the direction of flight, one located rearward of the other from the leading edge to the trailing edge of said wing structure, means for mounting and connecting said wing sections to constitute said wing structure to retain the most rearward of said wing sections stationary in said wing structure, and pivots to carry the other movable wing sections so as to be adjustable about said pivots relatively to said rearward stationary wing section and to each other, a pivot on each wing section rearward of the leading wing section, a two-armed lever mounted on each of said pivots, and pivots connecting the upper arm of each of said levers to the trail ing edge of the next forward wing section, a connecting rod, and pivots connecting the lower arm of each two-armed lever to said connecting rod, the rear end of said connecting rod entering the stationary wing section, a screwthread on the rearward end of said connecting rod, a nut wheel engaging said screwthread on the end of said connecting rod, means to prevent said nut wheel havin motion in the direction of the axis of sai connecting rod, and means for revolving said nut wheel to cause said pivotally mounted wing sections to be rocked on their pivots to distance one from the other to form narrow through slots extending transversely of the directlon of flight and having the opening of each slot on the under side of suchwing structure located in advance of the openin of the same slot on the other side of sai wing structure, or to close said wing sections together, all said wing sections whether closed together or separated being contained within a contour line of wing form surrounding said wing structure, with which contour line portions of the surfaces of each wing section contact, all combining to make up the contour of a whole wing section.

4. In a wing for aircraft comprising a plurality of elements each of win form positioned to define the contour o the wmg and to be separated by throu h passages, one of said elements being fixe ly mounted and the other elements pivotally mounted, a lever pivotally mounted to each pivoted element and also to the element next adjacent and means for rocking said levers.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the resence of two witnesses,

FREDERI K HANDLEY PAGE. Witnesses:

Tnoiaas WILLIAM Rooms, Lns'nm FRANK Rooms. 

